The present invention concerns both a method of and apparatus for separating particles suspended in a flowing liquid to obtain a clean current component, one, that is, with few or no particles suspended in it.
There are many applications, especially in the field of materials analysis that require eliminating contaminants in the form of suspended particles from flowing liquids to obtain a clean sample. Filters of woven or ceramic materials have been mostly employed for this purpose until now. A filter separates solids of particular dimensions, which deposits on its surface. The pores rapidly clog up, however, and allow less and less of the clean liquid through. Filters accordingly rapidly become unusable and must be replaced or at least rinsed out fairly often.
Other known methods of separation exploit gravity to separate the heavier solid particles from the lighter molecules of a liquid. This approach, however, requires a still liquid, and an amount has to be removed from the flowing liquid and allowed to come to rest in order to allow the suspended particles to precipitate. A continuous removal of cleaned liquid is, accordingly, impossible.